No guarantee Xander Bogaerts is in Opening Day lineup for Red Sox next year

BOSTON -- Ben Cherington didn't want to make any commitments in the days following the parade of duck boats through downtown Boston to celebrate a World Series title. He wasn't about to anoint Xander Bogaerts his shortstop or his third baseman. He wa

BOSTON -- Ben Cherington didn't want to make any commitments in the days following the parade of duck boats through downtown Boston to celebrate a World Series title. He wasn't about to anoint Xander Bogaerts his shortstop or his third baseman. He wasn't about to anoint Bogaerts anything at all.

"He certainly looks like he's ready to play in the big leagues," the general manager said. "We've obviously thought very highly of him for a long time. You don't know exactly when the stage is going to arrive, but he looked very comfortable on it when he got on it. We'll see. It's very early in the offseason, and there's plenty of time this offseason and in spring training to figure it all out."

That the Red Sox would field a lineup on Opening Day without Bogaerts in it seems unfathomable. Other than the otherworldly David Ortiz, Bogaerts might have been the best hitter the Red Sox had in the World Series -- and only just after he'd turned 21 years old, calling to mind the emergence of Andruw Jones with the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs in 1996.

But it's worth noting that Jones wasn't in the Braves' Opening Day lineup in 1997. Jones watched from the bench as Ryan Klesko and Michael Tucker flanked Kenny Lofton, and it wasn't until the ninth inning of that game that he came off the bench to hit for Tucker. He played mostly in a reserve role throughout that season, seeing regular time only when Lofton went on the disabled list with a groin strain. He didn't start more than 100 games until the following season.

In some ways, the same happened with Jacoby Ellsbury after he burst onto the scene late in the 2007 season and then starred in the World Series.

Ellsbury played center field for the Red Sox in the first of their two season-opening games in Japan. He played right field in their first game back on American soil a week later. Through the first two weeks of the season, he played about every other day, splitting time with incumbent center fielder Coco Crisp and spelling J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez once or twice. Ellsbury started almost 130 games that season, but he did so without playing the majority of his innings at any one defensive position.

Though moving around in the outfield is a little bit different than doing so in the infield, it's not hard to imagine Bogaerts spending his rookie year in similar fashion if Stephen Drew opts to return to Boston and youngster Will Middlebrooks is retained.

Bogaerts came through the minor leagues as a shortstop, and the scarcity of shortstops who can hit means the Red Sox would like him to stay at shortstop as long as possible. But the way he was able to handle third base in the postseason despite having played fewer than 20 games at the position in his lfe was a revelation.

"To ask him to continue to learn it and perform at the most critical time of year, he handled it great," John Farrell said. "It just opens up more flexibility for us as we build the team for next year."

No matter what, the Red Sox have high hopes for Bogaerts to be a productive major-league hitter right away -- and for a long time. Skeptics can point to other highly rated prospects who have amounted to nothing, but the Red Sox haven't had a young position player this esteemed this close to the majors since Hanley Ramirez in 2005 and, before him, Nomar Garciaparra in 1996.

Before he got on base at a .412 clip in a pitching-dominated postseason, Bogaerts hit .284 with a .369 on-base percentage and .453 slugging percentage in more than 250 plate appearances even as the youngest player in the Triple-A International League. That came after he hit .311 with a .407 on-base percentage and .502 slugging percentage in more than 250 plate appearances as the youngest player in the Double-A Eastern League.

The way he controlled the strike zone in October as a 20- and 21-year-old major-leaguer against playoff-caliber pitching was remarkable. In 11 plate appearances against Tampa Bay and Detroit, he drew five walks and hit three doubles while striking out just once.

What he showed in the playoffs was "that same poise and maturity he showed throughout the minor leagues," Farrell said.

More than any prospect Boston has brought to the major leagues since Garciaparra -- and that includes the likes of Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia -- Bogaerts looks like a star in the making. He'll almost certainly be an everyday player for the Red Sox before too long. Whether that's Opening Day next season, however, remains to be seen.